*The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

[Brahvocado]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

would you be surprised if i said that some guy on tv said EXACTLY the same thing minutes ago? he said "for me, will be germany and portugal. portugal is ronaldo only, and if the US can score big against Ghana, and go full defense against germany and Portugal, it will be easy for the americans."

LOL

In all seriousness though, Ghana is wayyyyy better than anybody is giving them credit for. They can legitimately beat both Portugal and the US, and Germany struggled to beat them 1-0 the last time they played each other.

Writing off Ghana would be a mistake for any of those teams

[~LiverpoolRed~]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

Ghana have some good players. Kevin Prince-Boateng, Asamoah Gyan, Sulley Muntari, Andre Ayew and Christian Atsu. They will not be pushovers.

[fugazi]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

of course...

what a joke...some of those groups look ridiculous. France AGAIN draws weak...

Ghosts of WC past for the USMNT...we had Germany in group stage in 1998, Ghana needs no introduction, and we had Portugal in 2002 (beat 'em).

It is patently absurd that, in a tournament like this, the biggest sporting event in the world, a team that qualified 1st in its region is put in the same pot as the team that won fourth, and other 3rd tier teams from other regions.

Any objective fan of the game HAS to notice how lame that is.

A, C, E, F, H are each (at least) borderline ridiculous.

Of course some groups have to come out tough, others not as much...but still...horrible spirit, this FIFA.

[gopher_guy]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

So what's the general consensus around the world of whether or not these draws are rigged in any way? As opposed to completely random, as they appeared on TV?

(legitimate question)

[Brahvocado]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

So what's the general consensus around the world of whether or not these draws are rigged in any way? As opposed to completely random, as they appeared on TV?

(legitimate question)

Considering that Blatter is Swiss and his likely successor is French, I wouldn't completely rule it out right now

[jyoung]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

USA got the shaft. They are in by far the toughest group.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

We're ****ed. Ugh.

And we're in the group with Germany, who's my favorite team that's not the US (obviously). Happened in 2002 and I hated it. Will clearly root for the US in that game.

I guess the good part is that I ****ing hate Portugal and Ghana so as long as neither of them take a spot at the top of the group I'll be good.

Some of these other groups are jokes. I wish I could get pissed at how they got constructed but I have literally zero capacity to understand how they do this ****.

June is too far away.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/06/world-cup-schedule-2014-brazil_n_4400118.html

Schedule and times for the matches. Enjoy the reasonable start times this time around because they're going away for a really long time.

[rsnomar05]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

If we lose to Ghana in the first game, we should invade them make them a US territory so it can't ever happen again.

[Mo]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

Best case scenario,

Draw Ghana
Hope CR7 has been arrested for the murder of Sepp Blatter.
Pray the German Team gets detained at Customs, boom qualification

[calcutta]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

3 groups of death (B/D/G...with G being the toughest top to bottom) and comparatively 3 groups of "life" (E/F/H...C is also pretty average, but at least all 4 are somewhat evenly matched). This was bound to happen when teams like Switzerland, Belgium and Colombia are seeded...regardless of how the latter two went in qualifying, they hadn't even qualified for a World Cup since 2002 and 1998 respectively! Heck even Uruguay struggled in qualifying, but at least they have some recent pedigree in tournaments (4th at WC 2010, Copa America 2011 winners) so I understand them being seeds.

My Australia were always going to get a tough group, but to have both the 2010 Finalists in the same group shows how dumb the seeding system is IMO. At least for Australia they've got nothing to lose especially after a recent coaching change and can just enjoy themselves against teams they haven't played against recently (except the Dutch in friendly a few years ago).

[Anners]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

To be fair to Belgium, they're in the midst of a golden generation of sorts. They've got some world-class players in that team, Kompany and Hazard just to name two. Then you've got players like Vertonghen and Vermaelen at the back, Fellaini and Dembele in midfield and Lukaku up front. And those are just the Premier League players.

As I become an England fan for a tournament (as is the case of nearly every 2 years being a Northern Ireland fan), if we can get out the group, we've got a good chance of making the Quarters. Can't seem them going past there though, most likely a tie against Brazil or Spain if they get there.

[Bruins]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

I'm not worried.

[cdawg44]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

To be fair to Belgium, they're in the midst of a golden generation of sorts. They've got some world-class players in that team, Kompany and Hazard just to name two. Then you've got players like Vertonghen and Vermaelen at the back, Fellaini and Dembele in midfield and Lukaku up front. And those are just the Premier League players.

As I become an England fan for a tournament (as is the case of nearly every 2 years being a Northern Ireland fan), if we can get out the group, we've got a good chance of making the Quarters. Can't seem them going past there though, most likely a tie against Brazil or Spain if they get there.

All Hail our Belgian Overlords!!!!!

[cdawg44]

Re: *The Road to Brazil 2014* WC 2014 Qualifying Discussion

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4400118.html

Schedule and times for the matches. Enjoy the reasonable start times this time around because they're going away for a really long time.

Nothing will ever be as bad as 2002 was. 2-3 am games were awful. I fell asleep at summer camp because my roommate and I watched almost every game.